Monday, August 7, 2017

Athirasam is an Indian sweet that tastes something like ginger bread cookies fried in oil (more sweeter than the cookies). This definition is not necessary for any South Indian, but thought it may help others to understand the taste.

In this athirasam recipe , I have used kitchenAid grain mill attachment to powder the rice. The grain mill attachment has various settings from finest to coarse that can be used to prepare wheat flour or any kind of flours and cracked wheat like stuff. Many stores offer cash back deals and offers on KitchenAid. I used Kohl's cash back offers and a 30% discount coupon. I am sure KitchenAid is a boon for all who love to cook from scratch.

Even though, athirasam is quite a simple snack with only a few ingredients, it needs lot of concentration while preparing the dough. For the first try in my grainmill attachment , I wanted a solid recipe with cup measurements on small scale . I came across this Athirasam Video by Tamil virunthu and it has very good tips. Thanks to her detailed video I could improvise mine. My traditional athirasam recipe calls for kg measurements while this video has shown it in cup measures. This time I bought an authentic ponni pacharisi (Lakshmi brand). Earlier I was using the basmati rice (which is less expensive here), and I found that the pacharisi is better for all kinds of palagarams :) (reinvented the wheel 😀 ).

This is one of my most favorite snacks and my memories with athirasam would revolve around my Deepavalis. Then after marriage, I too started making it by myself in Chennai. We had a rice mill near our house and so these kind of snacks were easy for me then. There Sandhya amma and her family and friends (every household in neighborhood) would bring me athirasam and murukku during Deepavali. That's a traditional snack there in Chennai. Should I say, my hubby dear loves these festival days to munch these goodies 🤗 ! Also he loves traditional sweets better than my "experimental recipes " .
So here is a successful recipe for athirasam using cup measures. Try this and enjoy !

Athirasam

It should be soft inside but cooked well

Soaking the rice for 2 - 3 hours

Bought this towel on sale for 75 cents from walmart ....just for drying the rice 😏

Method:
Soak rice for 2-3 hours.
(One time I used Everest brand daily Basmati rice as I didn't buy real raw rice / pacharisi. Then I used Lakshmi brand Ponni pacharisi and found that this one is the best for Tamil recipes)
Drain water and spread over clean cloth / plastic sheet for 1 hour under fan.
In a mixie grind to fine powder along with cardamom. Though we should try for a fine powder, I could get a medium fine (little coarse) powder only. If needed use a sieve and sort out coarse rice and grind again.
Bring water to boil. Dissolve jaggery. (Filter and remove any dust or sand, if needed).
(I bought 'Taste of India - soft jaggery of Gujarat'. It is almost same as paahu vellam of Tamilnadu).
Boil the jaggery solution till it gets thicker (just before uruttu patham / soft rollable stage).
Take the jaggery out of heat immediately and mix with ghee, rice powder, sesame, ginger powder.
Mix well. (see photo for the consistency of dough. It should not be hard. It should be pourable but not runny).
Keep this dough in an airtight container. for 3 days in room temperature.

Frying:
Smudge a drop of oil on a plastic sheet (I used a small ziplock cover).
Divide the athirasam mavu (dough) into 10 - 12 of amla size balls.
Place one ball over the plastic sheet. Press with hand to a flat (1/4 inch thickness) disc.
Just like this prepare 5 to 6 athirasam as per need or do the whole batch.

Put the flattened dough into hot oil. It will start rising like tiny poori. Flip within 10 seconds. Let it cook both sides for less than 35 seconds. Take out and press carefully between two spatula to remove excess oil. Keep it over paper towel and start frying the next one.

Let cool and store in airtight container or consume immediately :)

Serving suggestion:
Let the athirasam cool a little bit before serving .
The dough stays good at room temperature for up to a week.
Counting : Makes 12 medium size athirasam

Note:
KitchenAid grain mill attachment can be used to powder rice, wheat and any cereals.
We should not use the grains with more moisture.
I have air dried the rice (under fan) for nearly 3 hours before grinding it to a powder.
I have set it in setting 3 (setting 1 is for finest).